Iran’s former First Vice President, Mohammed Mokhber, said on Thursday that a new framework for managing the Strait of Hormuz needed to be established when the current war in the region concludes, which he said represents "a turning point for Iran’s regional position".
Mokhber served as vice president from 2021 to 2024, under former President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a plane crash. He later served as an advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on 28 February.
Mokhber added that the West "had imposed sanctions and restrictions" on Iran, but that after the end of the current war, Tehran could move from being a sanctioned state to a "position of strength" - regionally and internationally.
Iran had enough leverage on the Strait of Hormuz to impose a new system on the strategic waterway, he said, that would "influence shipping traffic and prevent vessels of certain countries from passing".
"One of the main outcomes of this war should be establishing a new framework for managing the Strait of Hormuz," he added.
Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies pass, since the US-Israeli war on the country started, while maintaining its own oil exports to major consumers such as China.
In a related development, Iranian lawmakers proposed a plan to impose tolls and taxes on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Thursday.
"We in parliament are pursuing a plan under which countries will pay tolls and taxes to the Islamic republic if the Strait of Hormuz is used as a secure route for transit, energy and food security," Iranian MP Somayeh Rafiei was quoted as saying by ISNA.
"The security of the strait will be established with strength, authority and grandeur by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and countries must pay a tax in return," she said.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that maritime traffic would "not return to its pre-war status".
In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the "aggression" against it.
Maritime intelligence firm Windward said in an analysis on Tuesday that at least five ships exited the strait via Iranian waters on March 15 and 16.
A message from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also said "the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used".
Agencies contributed to this report.